Process and apparatus for continuously treating manmade filament tows under a normal pressure condition

ABSTRACT

A process and apparatus are disclosed for continuously and uniformly wet-treating a manmade filament tow under a normal pressure condition without undesirable entanglement and excessive elongation of the filaments. The manmade filament tow is impregnated with a treating liquid, accumulated in a treating box in a square column-form, heated at a given temperature for a predetermined time period while passing through the treating box, cooled in a cooling means by passing cooling water through said tow accumulation, washed in a washing means with a washing liquid and then crimped into a desired crimped form. These processes are carried out uniformly and continuously without any disturbance of the filament tow. The process and apparatus of the present invention is valuable for obtaining the wet-treated and crimped manmade filament tow which is adequate to be subjected to draftcutting-type tow spinning.

1 r 9 '1 1 I3 1 l Il 3 1 1 limited mates atettt 1 1 a azma [72] Inventors liteniehi ll/ilurotani; 3,380,131 4/1968 Gray 28/16 X ll-lliroshi Sugimoto; iiatiinne Sahara; llienao 3,41 1,328 1 1/1968 Fleissner 66/5 D Rosalia; lliiyoshi Atllmchi; Tunelilllto 3,434,189 3/1969 Buck et al.. 28/75 WT I a g all of Nagoya, J p 3,529,926 9/1970 Fleissner 8/1491 21 A N 47 3 E22} Fiifd 0 Julie 18, 1970 rimary ExammerLou1s1(. Rrmrodt [45] Patented Dec 21, 1971 Att0meysRobert E. Burns and Emmanuel .I. Lobato [73] Assignee Mitsuhishi lliayon (10., Ltd.

M9101 AllilSllhACT- A process and apparatus are disclosed for con- Pnormes i g 19w tinuously and uniformly wet-treating a manmade filament tow 1 2 52 under a normal pressure condition without undesirable entan- M 20 11970 M W No 45mm glement and excessive elongation of the filaments. The manay p made filament tow is impregnated with a treating liquid, accu mulated in a treating box in a square column-form, heated at a [54] PmUcESS AND APPARATUS FOR CQNTINUUUSLY given temperature for a predetermined time period while TMEATHNG MANMADIE MLAMENT TOWS UNDER pass ng through the treatmg box cooled In a cooling means by A NORMAL PRESSURE CONIDHTHON passing coollng water through said tow aocumulation, washed 27 Claims 20 Drawing m a washing means with a washing liquid and then cnmped into a desired crimped form. These processes are carried out [52] U.S.Cl Zh/Lfi, uniformly and continuously without any disturbance f h 28/72-141 28/75 WT filament tow. The process and apparatus of the present inven- [50] Field oi Search 28/1.6, m is valuame f Obtaining the weptreated and i d 75176; 68/5i8/1511 149-3 manmade filament tow which is adequate to be subjected to References Cited draft-cutting-type tow spinning.

UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,210,967 10/1965 Schwab et al 66 /5 D PATENIED m2! 197! SHEET 1 BF 6 PATENTEU DECZI ISYI 3,62 ,224

PATENTEB UECZI I97] SHEET BF 6 PATENTEU mace] I97! SHEET 6 OF 6 PROCESS AND APPARATUS 1F R CONTIINUQEUSLY TREATING MANMADE FTLAMENT TOW UNDER A NORMAL PRESSURE CONlDllTlIUlN The present invention relates to a process and apparatus for continuously treating manmade filament tow under a normal pressure condition and successively crimping the filament tow, and more particularly, to a process and apparatus for continuously and uniformly subjecting manmade filament tow to a wet-treatment such as scouring, bleaching and dyeing at a high temperature under a normal pressure, cooling, washing and crimping conditions.

The term manmade filament" as herein used, refers to semisynthetic filaments such as cellulose diacetate and cellulose triacetate filaments and synthetic filaments such as polya mide, polyesters, polyolefin, acrylic polymer and polyvinyl alcohol filaments and the like.

The conventional methods for wet-treating for example, scouring, bleaching and dyeing of a filament mass formed in a tow form are classified into two groups as follows.

1. The discontinuous method in which the filament tow is charged into a closed treating container in an accumulation form and a treating liquid is compulsively circulated through the filament tow accumulation. This method is also known as the batch system method.

. Continuous method, in which the filament tow is impregnated with a treating liquid and passes through a high-pressure steamer and wherein the treatment is completed within a relatively shorter time under a high temperature and high-pressure condition.

When the former method (1) is applied to the actual treating process, there are various disadvantages such as low processing efficiency, the requirement of a great amount of manual labor and undesirable high variation in quality of the resultant products due to its discontinuity.

On the other hand, the latter method (2) includes various disadvantages upon the apparatus for this method, that is, it is very difficult to perfectly seal the high-temperature high-pressure steamer and this difficulty has not as yet been adequately resolved.

Generally, it is well known that exhaustion rate of dye by filament or fiber is a function of dyeing temperature and dyeing time. Therefore, in order to complete the exhaustion of the dye in a short time, the dyeing is carried out at a temperature higher than l00 C. under a high-pressure condition.

When the dyeing, which uses water as a heating medium, is carried out at a temperature above 100 C,, it is usually necessary to perform the operation within a tightly closed container at a high pressure.

Such a high-temperature dyeing method has the inconvenience that the container is required to have provision for a particularly tight mechanism for resisting the high pressure. This results in increase of the installation cost. In order to avoid the above-stated inconveniences, an ebullioscopic agent such as urea or glycerol is added into the dyeing liquid for escalating the boiling point of the dyeing liquid to a temperature above 100 C. This is valuable for favorably carrying out the dyeing at a higher temperature above 100 C. under a nor mal pressure condition. However, the method causes the increase of dyeing liquid cost.

Accordingly, in order to achieve a continuous and uniform treatment of the manmade filament tow utilizing the conventional methods described above, it is necessary to provide an adequate solution to the following requirements.

1. The filament tow must be uniformly impregnated with the treating liquid, or the treating liquid must uniformly penetrate into the filament tow or uniformly pass through the filament tow.

2. in order that the filament tow is uniformly heated by a heating medium, the heating medium must uniformly flow through the filament tow or the filament tow accumulation.

3. The filament tow must be subjected to the desired treatment for a time duration sufficient to complete the treatment. The treating time must always be constant.

4. The filament tow must be prevented from undesirable entanglement and excessive elongation or shrinkage throughout the treatment.

Provided that the manmade filament tow, passed through the above-stated treatment, is subjected to a draft-cutting-type tow spinning such as a perlock system and turbo stapler system, the filament tow is required to have provision for highquality severe restrictions, as follows.

1. The filaments in the tow are never intertwined and entangled with each other,

2. The filament tow has a uniform thickness and width.

3. The filament tow is uniformly crimped and has pertinent crimping properties.

4. The filaments in the tow have a uniform and pertinent elongation and tenacity.

Particularly, when the manmade filament tow is subjected to wet-treating such as scouring, bleaching and dyeing before the tow is supplied to the tow spinning process even if the filament tow is previously crimped, usually the crimps of the filament are substantially lost during the wet-treating because some extent of tension, which is necessary for maintaining the filament tow .at a favorable condition, is applied to the filament tow. Accordingly, the treated filament tow must be recrimped before being subjected to the tow spinning. Needless to say, noncrimped filament tow is crimped after the wet-treatment.

As described above, the filament tow, just before tow spinning, is required to have provision for a favorable tow con figuration, uniform and suitable crimping properties such as degree of crimping and crimp number and uniform and proper elongation and tenacity.

Further. if the filaments in the tow have undesirable internal stresses distributed unevenly therein, these internal stresses cause large variations in the elongation and tenacity of the filaments. These variations result in difficulty of the draft cutting of the filament tow at a uniform condition. Therefore, the filament tow to be supplied to the tow spinning must be composed of filaments each being sufficiently relaxed in their internal stresses and thus having a uniform draft-cutting property. In order to obtain a manmade filament tow being composed of filaments each sufficiently made free from internal stress, it is necessary that the filament tow be prevented from undergoing excess tension and deformation during processing. However, when the long length continuous material, such as the manmade filament tow, is continuously conveyed and treated, it is actually impossible to perfectly prevent the filament tow from disturbance of the tow configuration without tension for the filament tow.

Accordingly, provided that the filament tow is subjected to tow spinning after passing through the wet-treatment such as scouring, bleaching and dyeing, there is a contradiction between the requirement in which the filament tow is required to be processed without disturbance of the filament tow configuration and the necessity wherein the filaments are required to be set free from the internal stress.

Unfortunately, a process and apparatus effective for simultaneously satisfying both requirements which are contradictory, with respect to each other, are not found in the prior industrial arts.

An object of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus for continuously and uniformly subjecting a manmade filament tow to wet-treatment such as scouring, bleaching and dyeing under a normal pressure condition, to washing and successively to crimping while effectively eliminating disadvantages encountered in the prior arts, such as entanglement of filaments in the tow and undesirable excessive tension to the tow.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus for continuously and uniformly subjecting a manmade filament tow to wet-treatment such as scouring, bleaching and dyeing under normal pressure, to washing and successively to crimping while sufficiently relaxing the filaments in order to eliminate inner stresses remaining in the filaments.

Further object of the present invention is to provide a process and apparatus effective for obtaining a wet-treated and crimped manmade filament tow adequate for subjecting to draft-cutting-type tow spinning.

The process and apparatus of the present invention may be applied to. the manmade filament tow as defined above and particularly, may be advantageously applied to acrylic filament tow. More particularly, the process and apparatus of the present invention have a large advantage for preparing dyed or bleached acrylic filament tow adequate for supplying to the turbo stapler type tow spinning system. However, it will be self-evident, in accordance with the following description, that the process and apparatus of the present invention may be effectively applied to another long length fibrous mass such as sliver of manmade or natural staple fibers and wool top and the like, and to another purpose.

According to the process of the present invention, the manmade filament tow is continuously and successively subjected to the following steps:

. lmpregnating the filament tow with a treating liquid, in which the filament tow is impregnated with a predetermined quantity of the treating liquid such as scouring, bleaching or dyeing liquids or vigoureux printed with a printing paste.

2. Treating the filament tow in an open-type treating means, in which the filament tow is uniformly charged into the treating means through an upper inlet thereof while forming a square column-formed tow accumulation and remaining within the treating means for a prescribed time period while passing downwardly through the treating means and at the same time, a heating medium such as steam flows into the filament tow accumulation through at least one side thereof in order to heat the filament tow accumulation to a give temperature whereby the desired treatment upon the filament tow is completed.

. Cooling the treated filament tow, in which after passing the prescribed remaining period, the treated filament tow accumulation is discharged from the treating means into a cooling means and passes through the cooling means along a substantially U-shaped course and at the same time, cooling medium uniformly flows through the filament tow accumulation in order to cool the filament tow accumulation.

4. Introducing the cooled filament tow into a washing means, in which the cooled filament tow is introduced from the cooling means into the washing means having at least one rotary suction drum having numerous apertures formed on the periphery thereof at a tension of at least 0.03 g./d.

. Washing the filament tow, in which the filament tow is carried upon the periphery of the rotary suction drum and the washing liquid passes through the filament tow at a substantially right angle with respect to the periphery in order to uniformly wash the filament tow.

6. Drying the washed filament tow, in which the washed filament tow is dried at a tension of 0.01 to 0.04 g./d., and;

7. Crimping the washed filament tow, in which the washed filament tow is uniformly crimped at a prescribed crimping condition and at the same time, the crimped filament tow is heated with steam fed into the crimping means in order to eliminate internal stress remaining in the filaments.

The process of the present invention is favorably carried out by the apparatus of the present invention which comprises the following means arranged successively along the path of travel of the filament tow:

1. an impregnating means by which the filament tow is impregnated or vigoureux printed with a prescribed quantity of treating liquid,

2. a treating means for said filament tow comprising a substantially perpendicular inner cylinder for containing the filament tow having a square-shaped lateral cross-sectional profile and provided with a top end opening connected to atmosphere and mutually facing sidewalls having numerous apertures and further comprising a substantially perpendicular outer cylinder encompassing the inner cylinder for forming a heating medium passage between the outside wall of the inner cylinder and the inside wall of the outer cylinder,

3. cooling means for the heated filament tow comprising a substantially U-shaped towpath connected to the lower end of the inner cylinder of the treating means and having numerous apertures, and a cooling medium chamber which contains the tow path and has a supply inlet and discharge outlet for the cooling medium,

4. tension means for tensing the treated filament tow during discharging,

5. washing means for washing the treated filament tow comprising a washing liquid bath, a rotary suction drum with a periphery having numerous apertures disposed in the washing liquid bath, a suction pump connecting an inner space of the suction drum to the washing liquid bath for circulating the washing liquid through the apertures of the suction drum, the inner space of the suction drum, and the washing liquid bath,

6. drying means for drying the washed filament tow at a tension of 0.01 to 0.04 g./d.,

7. crimping means for the washed filament tow comprising a pair of feeding rollers facing each other, and a stuffing box having at least one aperture fluidally connected to a steam supply source.

The process and apparatus as stated above may include various modifications and other supplementary steps and means, without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

Further features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the ensuing detailed description and the accompanying illustrative drawings in which;

FIG. 1 is a schematic side view of an embodiment of the en tire stages of the apparatus of the present invention,

FIG. 2A is a vertical cross-sectional drawing of an embodiment of a treating box used in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIGS. 28 and 2C are lateral cross-sectional views showing an arrangement of the treating box shown in FIG. 2A, respectively,

2D is a lateral cross-sectional view for showing a modification of the heating box shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C,

FIG. 2E is a vertical cross-sectional drawing of another embodiment of the treating box of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIGS. 2F and 2G are lateral cross-sectional views showing an arrangement of the treating box shown in FIG. 2E, respectively,

FIGS. 3A and 3B are model views showing a charging manner of sliver or wool top, respectively,

FIG. 4A is a sectional side view of an embodiment of the cooling means usable for the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 4B is a sectional side view of a modification of the cooling means shown in FIG. 3A,

FIG. 4C is a sectional side view of another modification of the cooling means shown in FIG. 4A,

FIG. 4D is a sectional side view of still another modification of the cooling means shown in FIG. 4A,

FIG. 5A is a schematic side view of washing baths used in the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 5B is a cross-sectional front view of the washing drum and its related parts used in the washing baths arrangement shown in FIG. 5A,

FIG. 5C is a front view of a modified embodiment of the washing drum shown in FIG. 5B,

FIG. 6 is a partially sectional schematic view of a crimping means usable for the apparatus shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of means for detecting top level of filament tow usable for the apparatus shown in FIG. 1, and

FIG. 8 is a partially sectional schematic view of an arrangement of the detecting means shown in FIG. 7.

Referring to FIG. 1, an embodiment of all the stages of the apparatus of the present invention is schematically illustrated.

In the shown arrangement of the apparatus, a manmade filament tow A contained in a tow box 1 is successively supplied into a treating liquid impregnating means 4 through guide rolls 3a, 36 and 30 mounted on a creel framework 2 under an adequately tensed condition so as to eliminate undesirable twists or bending of the tow A. The impregnating means 4 is provided with an impregnating bath 5 containing the treating liquid, a guide roll 6 disposed within the impregnating bath 5 and a pair of squeezing rollers 7a and 7b. The supplied tow A passes through the impregnating bath 5 while being guided by the guide roll 6. At a location in the vicinity of the top end of the creel framework 2 above the impregnating device 4, a pair of cooperating nip rollers 11a and 11b are disposed so as to deliver the tow A from the impregnating device 4 and to supply the tow A into the downstreamly located treating box 8. In this supplying operation, the tow A is uniformly accumulated into the treating box 8 in a successively folded disposition by a pair of rotational bars 10a and 10b located at the upper inlet of the treating box 8. The impregnating means 4 adaptable for the apparatus of the present invention is not limited only to the shown arrangement, that is, for example, a vigoureux printing machine is also employable for this apparatus. The mechanical construction and operational feature of the treating box 8 will be explained hereinafter in more detail.

After completion of the desired treatment, the tow A is introduced into a cooling means l3 connected downstream of the treating box 8. The mechanical construction and the operational feature of the cooling means 13 will be explained later in more detail. During its travel through the cooling means 13, the treated tow A is cooled down by the cooling medium such as water and air flowing through the cooling bath 13.

Being delivered from the cooling means 13, the tow A is fed to a pair of squeezing rollers 14a and 14b passing over a guide roller 13a located at the outlet terminal of the cooling bath 13. Next, the tow A is passed through three continuously arranged washing baths 20, 21 and 22 passing over the guide roller 16a located at the inlet terminal of the first washing bath 20. During this delivery of the tow A from the cooling bath 13 to the washing bath 20, the squeezing rollers 14a and 14b are not positively driven and a washing drum disposed within the first washing bath 20 is rotationally driven and mainly effects this tow delivery in such a manner that the tow is put in a suitably tensed condition. The mechanical arrangement and the operational feature of the washing baths will be explained in more detail hereinafter. After passing through the three washing baths 20, 21 and 22, the tow A is squeezed by a pair of squeezing rollers 19a and 19b located at the outlet terminal of the third washing bath 22 and fed to a successive oiling device 24 for oiling purposes. Next, the tow A is passed through a pair of nip rollers 25a and 25b located at the outlet terminal of the oiling device 24 followed by drying the oiled tow A by a dryer 26. The dryer 26 shown in FIG. l is composed of a plurality of cylinders 27 peripheries of which are heated with steam fed in the inner spaces thereof to a desired temperature whereby the tow A is dried by contacting the peripheries. The dryer usable for the apparatus of the present invention may be selected from a suction drum-type dryer, hot flue dryer, roller dryer and the cylinder dryer as shown in the drawing. In order to prevent the tow A from undesirable disturbance, it is required that the tow A be suitably tensioned during the drying and that the drying be finished within a relatively short time. For attaining the purpose stated above, the tow A is uniformly opened on the peripheries of the cylinder 27 in a thickness as thin as possible and is placed in tight contact with the peripheries at a tension of 0.01 to 0.04 g./d. In order to obtain the tension proposed above, the cylinders are driven at a peripheral velocity of 2 to 4 percent greater than that ofthe nip rollers 25a and 25b.

The tow A thus dried is preheated to a preselected temperature in a preheating steamer 28 in order to soften the tow A and then subjected to crimping by a crimper 29 under a predetermined condition. At this time, the tow A crimped in a stuffing box 42 of the crimper 29 is simultaneously heated with steam at a prescribed temperature fed into the stuffing box 42 whereby the residual inner or internal stresses in the filaments are sufficiently relaxed. The mechanical arrangement and the operational feature of the crimper 29 will be further illustrated in detail hereinafter. Next, passing over guide rollers 30a and 30b, the crimped tow A is successively deposited into a container box 32 by a delivery device 31.

Process and apparatus for carrying out the heating treatment on the tow A in the treating box El will now be explained in detail in conjunction with the embodiments shown in FIGS. 2A to 2D. Referring to FIGS. 2A to 2C, the treating box 9 is composed of a substantially perpendicular outer cylinder 8a of a substantially circular lateral cross-sectional profile and a substantially perpendicular inner cylinder 9 of a substantially square lateral cross'sectional profile encased within the outer cylinder 8a leaving a peripheral heating medium passage 8b between the two cylinders. The cross-sectional feature of the square inner cylinder 9 is illustrated in FIGS. 28 and 2C, wherein a pair of sidewalls 9a and 911 face each other in a substantially parallel disposition and their ends 9c and 9d extend to the inside surface of the circular outer cylinder in an opposite direction to each other and connected therewith. The two end walls and 9d form partitions for dividing the passage 8b into two chamber parts as is shown in the drawings, respective parts extending lengthwisely along the treating box 8. The sidewalls 9a and 9b are connected through a pair of parallelly disposed sidewalls 9e and 9f. Both of the sidewalls 9e and 9f are provided with numerous apertures 9g formed passing therethrough. The lengthwisely divided peripheral passage 8!: is further laterally divided into several sections by a plurality of spacedly disposed horizontal partitions 8c as is shown in FIG. 2A, each section forming a heating medium passage. The circular outer cylinder 8a is provided as shown in FIGS. 28 and 2C, with a heating medium inlet conduit dd and a heating medium discharging conduit 82 passing therethrough. The flowing direction of the heating medium introduced into the passage 8b is so designed that, as is shown in FIG. 2A, the flowing direction of the introduced heating medium alternates oppositely from section to section. For example, the heating medium flows leftwards in the drawing in the case of the section shown in FIG. 2C while it flows rightwards in the drawing in the case of the section shown in FIG. 2B.

As is already explained, the tow A is successively charged into the square inner cylinder 9 while being folded at certain stroke lengths so as to form a square column-formed accumulation. By suitably adjusting the feeding speed in relation to the delivery speed, a constant length of tow A is always maintained within the inner cylinder 9, that is, the remaining time duration of the tow A within the inner cylinder 9 is always maintained constant. During this remaining time within the inner cylinder 9, the tow A is thermally treated in the following manner.

In the arrangement shown in FIG. 28, a heating medium, which is usually given in the form of steam, is introduced into the left-hand section 8f in the drawing through the inlet conduit 8d. Thusly introduced heating medium is then introduced into the square inner cylinder 9 through the apertures 9g of the sidewalls 9e and flows into the square column-formed tow accumulation through a side of the tow accumulation. The.

heating medium further flows into the right-hand section 8g through the apertures 9 of the sidewall 9f and is discharged outside the treating box 8 through the discharging conduit 8e. In the case the fed tow A is composed of previously crimped filaments, the tow accumulation is provided with a great deal of fine spaces in its internal configuration and allows the heating medium to flow through such internal spaces. This results in the provision of uniform heating effect for the tow accumulation. Further, because the tow A is accumulated in a square column-formed disposition within the square inner cylinder 9, a very uniform configurational density of the tow can be obtained ascertaining the uniformity in the thermal treatment, also.

In the case of the arrangement shown in FIG. 2C, the heating medium flows in a direction opposite to that in the case of FIG. 28. Therefore, during passing through the inner cylinder 9, the manmade filament tow A is uniformly heated by the alternately flowing heating medium, whereby the desired treatment for the tow A is finished within the prescribed period. A portion of the heating medium flowing upwardly through the tow accumulation within the inner cylinder 9 is discharged outside the treating box 8 through a discharging conduit 12 connected to the top end portion of the treating box 8 by means of a suction fan.

Not only the heated stern but also super-heated steam obtained through a suitable heating of a saturated steam by such a heating device as an electric heater may be used for the purpose of the present invention.

FIG. 2D shows another embodiment of the treating box. In the case of this embodiment, the peripheral passage 8b is not longitudinally divided into two sections and also not provided with the heating medium discharging conduits 8e, different from the embodiment illustrated in FIGS. 2A, 2B and 2C. Due to the lack of the discharging conduits 8e, the heating medium fed to the peripheral passage 8b through the inlet conduits 8d has to flow upwardly through the tow accumulation so as to be discharged through the discharging conduits 12 disposed at the top portion of the treating box 8. This embodiment is advantageous over the foregoing embodiment I in that the mechanical structure is relatively simpler than the foregoing embodiment and that the fed heating medium is effectively utilized for heating the tow accumulation.

FIGS. 2E, 2F and 2G show still another embodiment of the treating box of the present invention. Referring to the drawings, the upper portion 9h of the inner cylinder 9 does not have any aperture for passing the heating medium, but the lower portion 91' of the inner cylinder 9 has numerous apertures 9g. The heating medium fed into the passage 8b through an inlet 8d flows downwardly through the upper portion of the passage 8b indirectly heating the tow accumulation contained in the'upper portion 9h of the inner cylinder 9, and then flows into the lower portion 91' through the apertures 9g.

The heating medium fed into the lower portion 9i flows upwardly through the tow accumulation directly heating the tow accumulation and is then discharged outside the treating box 8 through the outlet 12. On the other hand, the heating medium fed into the lower portion of the passage 8b through the inlet 8h flows into the lower portion 9i of the inner cylinder 9 through the apertures 9g and flows upwardly through the tow accumulation directly heating the tow accumulation.

As indicated in FIG. 2F, 'the heating medium flowing downwardly through the upper portion of the passage 8b indirectly heats the tow accumulation through the peripheral wall of the upper portion 9h of the inner cylinder 9.

At the lower portion 91' of the inner cylinder 9, the tow accumulation is directly heated by the heating medium flowed in through the apertures 9g. The flowed in heating medium flows upwardly through the tow accumulation. This technique including the indirect heating of the tow accumulation is valuable for treating the tow printed by the vigoureux printing machine because the vigoureux printed tow is prevented from undesirable bleeding by the indirect heating.

The length of the upper portion not containing the apertures and the number of the apertures are determined in consideration of the kind and form of the textile material to be treated, temperature for treatment, passing velocity of the textile material, kind of treatment and kind of heating medium. Preferably, the upper portion of the inner cylinder has a length of 2/3 with respect to the total length of the inner cylinder. Also, it is desirable that the peripheral passage 8b is crosswisely divided by the lateral partition 8c into two heating medium passages and the inlet 8h is connected to the lower passage.

As is well understood from the foregoing description, the heating manner applied in the process of the present invention is characterized in that the filament tow is processed through the inner cylinder in a square column-formed condition in succession and the heating medium is positively flowed into the tow accumulation through at least one side of the tow accumulation, whereby the tow accumulation is heated to a prescribed temperature for a predetermined time period in order to finish the desired treatment within the treating box.

It is important for uniformly heating the tow accumulation that the tow is accumulated into the square column fonn at a uniform configurational density in the inner cylinder of the treating box. Only in this accumulating manner, can the filament tow be set forth in a condition free from undesirable twisting which causes uneven treatment of the tow. However, in the cases of the sliver of the neutral fibers or manmade staple fibers and the wool top which are pretwisted in the preparation of themselves, they may be accumulated in a round inner cylinder in a coil form as illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 3B.

Referring to FIGS. 3A and SE, a round outer cylinder 8 contains a round inner cylinder 9 forming a peripheral passage 8b therebetween, the inner cylinder 9 has numerous apertures 9g formed on the periphery thereof for passing the heating medi- The silver or top is fed into the inner cylinder 9 while being bestowed a circular motion, for example, of a clockwise nature as illustrated in FIG. 3A. After a certain length of the sliver or top is fed, the sliver or tow is fed with the counterclockwise circular motion.

The heating medium is fed into the inner cylinder 9 through the apertures 9g and flows through the sliver or tow accumulation.

Next, the cooling process of the heated tow accumulation in the art of the present invention will be explained in detail with reference to the embodiments shown in FIGS. 4A and 48.

After being delivered from the treating box 8, the filament tow accumulation is then downwardly introduced into the cooling means 13 having a cooling medium chamber 13a and a substantially U-shaped guide path 13b. The cooling medium chamber 13a has a cooling medium inlet l3fconnected to an outside supply source (not shown in the drawing), a cooling medium discharging outlet 13g. The guide path 13b is con nected to the lower end of the inner cylinder 9, and has a substantially square cross-sectional profile. A plurality of apertures 13c for passing the cooling medium are formed through the walls of the guide path 1311 so as to connect the cooling medium chamber 13a with the guide path 13b. In this arrangement, the cooling medium supplied into the chamber 13a through the inlet 13f is introduced inside the guide path 13b and flows through the apertures 13c, cools the processed tow accumulation and is discharged through the apertures 130, the chamber and the discharging outlet 13g.

Various types of cooling medium flow path can be used for this purpose. In the case of the embodiment shown in FIG. 4A, the apertures 13c are formed through both top and bottom walls 13d and 136 defining the U-shaped guide path 13b. The cooling water introduced into the chamber 13a flows, as is shown with arrows in the drawing, from the bottom wall He near the outlet terminal of the guide path 13b towards the top wall 13d facing that bottom wall portion and from the top wall 13d near the inlet terminal of the guide path 13b towards the bottom wall 13:: facing that top wall portion. During this flowing through the guide path 13b, the cooling water effectuates a uniform temperature lowering of the processed tow accumulation. In this example, the flowing direction of the cooling water through the chamber 13a is almost opposite to the advancing direction of the tow accumulation.

Another embodiment is illustrated in FIG. 4B, wherein only the bottom wall 13c is provided with the apertures 130. In the case of this arrangement, the cooling water introduced into the chamber 13a comes into the guide path 13b through the apertures 130 of the bottom wall l3e near the outlet terminal of the guide path 13b, advances through the inside of the guide path 13b in the direction opposite to the advancing direction of the processed tow accumulation and passes out through the apertures 130 of the bottom wall 13a near the inlet terminal of the guide path 13b; whereby the processed tow accumulation is sufficiently cooled without any disturbance of the filaments in the filaments in the tow.

The arrangements illustrated in FIGS. 4A and 4B are usable for both the cooling mediums of water and air. However, if instead of the cooling water, cooling air is used as a cooling medium, then the various embodiments illustrated in FIGS. 4C and 4D are usable for the present invention. Referring to FIG. 4C, the cooling air inlet 13f is disposed near the inlet terminal of the U-shaped guide path 13b and the apertures 130 for passing the cooling air is formed only through the bottom wall 132 near the inlet 13f. The cooling air fed into the chamber 130 through the inlet 13f flows in the guide path 13b through the apertures 13c and flows through the tow accumulation being contained in the guide path 13f while cooling the tow accumulation and then discharged outside the cooling means 13. Referring to FIG. 4D, an air inlet 13f of the cooling chamber 13a is disposed near the inlet terminal of the guide path 13b, numerous apertures 13c are formed through the top and bottom walls 13d and 13e of the guide path 13b. The cooling air fed into the bottom portion of the chamber 13a through the inlet 13f flows in the guide path through the apertures 13c of the bottom wall l3e, flows through the tow accumulation passing along the guide path 13b while cooling the tow accumulation, and then is discharged outside the cooling means 13 through the apertures 130 of the top wall 13d, the top portion of the chamber 13 and the outlet 13g.

It is important that the arrangements illustrated in FIGS. 4C and 4D are usable only when the cooling air is used for cooling the tow accumulation. If the cooling water is used for the arrangements of FIGS. 4C and 4D, the tow A is frequently undesirably intertwined by the buoyancy action of the cooling water.

The employment of the tow cooling process in the art ofthe present invention purposes the following effects.

I. In the case of FIGS. 4A and 48, during the passing through the guide path 13b, the filament tow A is placed under a hydraulically pressurized condition. However, as the outlet terminal of the guide path 13b is curved upwards, the processed tow A can be released from this hydraulically pressurized condition at the upwardly curved portion of the guide path, whereupon the fresh cooling medium is introduced into the guide path so as to be in contact with the depressurized filament tow. This introduction of the fresh cooling medium gives a vibrating effect to the tow accumulation ascertaining an easy and smooth delivery of the tow from the cooling means 13.

2. In the case where the cooling medium flows within the guide path in the opposite direction with respect to the advancing direction of the highly heated filament tow which has a high plasticity, the cooling operation can be performed very effectively without undesirable deformation of the filament. When required, a gradual temperature lowering of the heated tow can also be achieved.

3. Concurrently with cooling by water, the tow is subjected to a preliminary washing.

4. The cooling manner by using the cooling air is valuable for preventing the uncolored portions of the vigoureux printed tow for undesirable staining.

In conclusion, the cooling process of the present invention is characterized by the advancing the manmade filament tow just delivered from the treating box along a substantially U- shaped course and positively flowing the cooling medium through the tow accumulation thereby effectively cooling the tow accumulation temporarily remaining within the cooling means without any disturbance of the tow.

AFter the completion of the cooling operation, the filament tow is next brought into the subsequent washing process, whose mechanical arrangement is illustrated in FIGS. A, 5B and 5C. This washing of the filament tow is employed in the art of the present invention for the purpose of eliminating residual treating agent or other foreign substances contained within the tow. For example, through the washing process, the dyed tow has an enhanced color fastness for washing.

ill

As is shown in the drawings, the washing bath arrangement of the present invention is mainly composed of suction-type washing drums l5, washing baths 20, 21 and 22 each containing a suction drum l5 and the washing liquid therein and suction pumps 23 operable to effect circulation of the washing liquid within the washing baths 20 to 22. The filament tow A to be washed is firstly introduced into the first washing bath 20 via the guide roller 16a, wound around the suction drum 15 via a guide roller Mb disposed in a contacting arrangement with the suction drum 115, advanced through the washing bath 20 and delivered out of the washing bath 20 via another guide roller 160 also disposed in a contact arrangement with the suc tion drum 15. In the above arrangement, the guide rollers 16!) and 160 are urged peripherally towards the surface of the suction drum l5 by a suitable urging mechanism such as a com' pression spring, thereby the processed tow A is tightly nipped between the peripheries of the contacting rollers.

The detailed mechanical construction of the suction drum and its related parts is shown in FIG. 58, wherein the suction drum 15 is provided with numerous apertures 15a on its periphery and the washing liquid is sucked inside the suction drum 15 passing through the apertures 15a by the operation of the suction pump 23. During this sucking, the washing liquid passes through the manmade filament tow A carried on the periphery of the suction drum 15 substantially at a right angle with respect to the periphery of the suction drum l5 whereby the filament tow comes in contact with the periphery of the suction drum 15 in a pressurized condition. The filament tow is uniformly washed without any disturbance of the filaments and the washing liquid once introduced inside the drum 15 is again circulated into the washing bath 20 by the suction pump 23. Although only three sets of washing baths 20 to 22 are combined in the embodiment shown in FIG. 4A, one, two or four or more sets of washing baths may be used as desired in consideration of the actual requirement in the process.

Next, the tow A is delivered from the first washing bath 20 by a pair of nip rollers 17a and 17b and is supplied in succession into the subsequent second washing bath 21. In the case where two or more washing drums are used in combination, it is recommended to effectuate the driving of the drums rotation utilizing for example, bevel gear mechanisms related to a common driving shaft connected to a common driving motor.

The washing liquid is preferably supplied firstly into the most downstream washing bath and subsequently transferred from that bath to an upstream bath. For example, in the arrangement shown in FIG. 4A, the washing liquid is firstly supplied into the third washing bath 22, next brought into the upstreamly located second washing bath 21 overflowing the par tition 22a and finally, into the upstreamly located first washing bath 20 overflowing the partition 21a. The washing liquid thusly brought into the first washing bath 20 then overflows into the exit 200 for discharge. The vertical sizes of the partitions are so selected that the liquid level in a downstreamly located washing bath is higher than that in the neighboring upstreamly located washing bath.

Referring to FIG. BC, the apertures 15a of the suction drum 15 are formed through the periphery portion contactable with the processing filament tow A. Further, the peripheral surface of the suction drum 15 may be provided with a peripheral recess 15b and the apertures 15a may be formed therethrough. By the disposition of such a peripheral recess 15b, the tow carried in the peripheral recess ll5b can be prevented from any disturbance of the filament during the liquid flowing therethrough and the tow is washed in the enhancement of the washing effect. Further, the apertures 15a may be formed convertibly in their sizes so as to adjust to the extent of the washing effect in confonnity to the type of filament tow to be processed. The washing baths may be further equipped with suitable heating arrangement.

In order to effectively avoid the disturbance of the tow during the washing operation, it is necessary to subject the tow to a tension of at least 0.03 g./d. during passing through the washing arrangement. When the processed tow is preliminarily crimped, the given crimps tend to be cancelled to an appreciable extent due to the application of the above-described tension to the tow during the washing operation.

For the compensation of such crimp cancellation, a crimping operation is advantageously applied to the tow after completion of the above-described washing in the art of the present invention.

Provided that the filament tow consists of straight filaments without crimping, generally, the straight filament two is crimped after washing The method and device for crimping the treated and washed filament tow is explained in detail hereinafter.

Generally, the manmade filament tow is crimped while in a wet condition. Such a wet crimping manner has the advantages such as, easily forming of the filament tow into a desired for before being supplied to the crimper, noncreation of undesirable static electricity during the crimping operation and high stability of the crimping operation. However, on the other hand, the wet crimping manner in which the crimped filament tow must be dried successively has the following disadvantages.

1. In order to dry the crimped filament tow while maintaining the resultant crimped form, the drying must be proceeded at a nontensiled condition by using a nontensile drying machine such as a net dryer. In this case, since the crimped tow has a large thickness, the oiling liquid (containing antistatic agent, softening agent or lubricating agent) being involved in the crimped tow tends to greatly migrate during the drying step. This migration is very undesirable for preparing the filament tow in which the oiling liquid is uniformly distributed.

2. In order to obtain the filament tow being uniformly impregnated with the oiling agent, it is desired that the filament tow involving the oiling liquid be dried in a tensioned condition by using the tensile drying machine such as a cylinder dryer and roller dryer. However, this tensioned drying tends to create undesirable internal stress in the tensioned filament.

The crimping manner and means according to the present invention are effective for eliminating the above-mentioned disadvantages of the conventional wet-crimping manner and have the following features.

1. Before crimping the filament tow, which is previously treated with the oiling liquid, the tow is dried in a tensioned condition of 0.01 to 0.04 g./d. in an open form which has a small thickness by using the tensional drying machine such as the cylinder dryer or roller dryer. Through such tensioned drying, the oiling agent in the filament tow can be prevented from uneven distribution which is caused by migration of the oiling liquid during drying and the filament tow is prevented from the undesirable disturbance of the filaments.

2. The dried filament tow is subjected to a desired crimping by a usual crimper and simultaneously subjected to elimination of the residual internal stresses existing in the filaments by heating the crimped filament tow with steam fed into the stuffing box of the crimper through at least one steam inlet disposed at the stuffing box. The steam heating is effective for perfectly eliminating the residual internal stresses of the filament which is created through the washing, drying and crimping steps, whereby the crimped filament tow can be supplied to the successive step without any impairment of the crimping state thereof. It is worthy of special attention that utilization of the above-stated manner and apparatus allows to obtain the manmade filament tow which is adequate for the draft-cutting-type tow spinning.

The crimping method and apparatus will be explained in detail referring to FIG. 6. In the drawing, a crimper 29 comprises a pair of feeding rollers 41a and 41b facing each other and a stuffing box 42. The supplied filament tow A is compressed into the stuffing box 42 by way of the feeding rollers 41a and 41b for imparting the desired crimp to the filaments.

When the filament tow is supplied into the crimper, each individual filament in the dry tow has a higher freedom from each other than each the individual filament in the wet tow. As a result of this, the dry tow can be easily bundled into a desired form.

The stuffing box 42 has numerous apertures 43 connected to a steam supply source. The apertures may be formed at any of the bottom wall, sidewalls or roof walls.

The relaxation of the crimped filament tow is carried out by ejecting steam having a prescribed pressure and temperature into the stuffing box containing the tow through a steam supply inlet 44 disposed at the wall of the stuffing box 42 and the apertures 43. The crimped filament tow being compressed in the stuffing box 42 is heated to a prescribed temperature, whereby the residual internal stresses existing in the filaments can be perfectly eliminated.

The temperature and supply flow rate of the steam may be determined in consideration of kind of filament, degree of crimping and performance and type of crimper used.

Additionally, the present invention further includes an improvement for maintaining the height of the tow accumulation in the inner cylinder constant. The maintaining of the tow accumulation height at a constant level is necessary for maintaining the treating period of the filament tow constant.

Generally, the height of the tow accumulation in the treating box is controlled by controlling feed and delivery velocities of the tow. However, the control of these parameters is unsatisfactory for maintaining the height constant over a very long operational time.

The method and device for controlling the height of the tow accumulation will be explained in detail with reference to FIGS. 1, 7 and 8. Referring to FIG. 1, a pair of height detecting means 51 and 52 are disposed at inlet portions of the inner cylinder 9 in order to maintain the top level of the tow accumulation between the detecting means 51 and 52. Referring to FIG. 7, the detecting means 51 and 52 are composed of a light-emitting device 53 and a light-receiving device 54 and a light path is formed between the light-emitting device 53 and the light-receiving device 54, respectively. If the light path of the upper detecting means 51 is intercepted by the rising top portion of the tow accumulation, the feed velocity of the tow is reduced or the delivery velocity is increased, but if the light path of the lower detecting means 52 is completed by lowering of the top level of the tow accumulation, the feed velocity of the tow is increased or the delivery velocity is lowered. Therefore, the top level of the tow accumulation can be maintaining between the light paths of the upper and lower detecting means 51 and 52. Once again referring to FIG. 1, the tow A is charged into the inner cylinder 9 according to the guiding motion of the rotational bars 10a and 10b, the light paths of the upper and lower detecting means is intercepted by the tow crossing the light paths. In order to eliminate the effect of the intercepting of the light paths due to the crossing of the tow, a delay relay is utilized so that action of the detecting means is delayed for a prescribed time, whereby variation of the feed velocity is prevented from the short time intercepting of the light paths. The delay time of 2 to 3 seconds is sufficient for this purpose.

In order to severely detect the top level of the tow accumulation, it is desirable that steam fed into the inner cylinder be superheated.

The detecting means 51. and 52 have the following inconvenience. That is, the outer lenses of the light-emitting and receiving devices are dimmed by moisture deposited on the lenses. This results in impossibility of the detecting action. In order to eliminate this inconvenience, as illustrated in FIG. 8, the light-emitting devices 53 and the light-receiving devices 54 are mounted on tubes 56 inserted in the inner cylinder 9, and air conduits 55 are fluidally connected to the tubes 56. Small mounts of air are fed to the tubes 56 through the air conduit 55 and the fed air covers the outer lenses so that the outer lenses do not directly come in contact with steam. This is effec tive for preventing the outer lenses from dimming due to moisture deposition thereon.

Also, if infrared ray is utilized as a detecting ray, the detecting can be carried out without consideration of the dimming of the outer lenses and insufficient transmittance of moisturecontaining steam.

As is clear from the foregoing description, the process and apparatus of the present invention is valuable for preparing a wet-treated and crimped filament tow pertinent for being supplied to the draft-cutting-type tow spinning. Through the process and apparatus of the present invention, the primary filament tow is uniformly wet-treated, in other words, scoured, bleached or dyed at a high temperature, cooled, washed, crimped and relaxed in a continuous manner without any disturbance, entanglement and intertwisting of filaments and twisting of the tow. The resultant filament tow is sufi'lciently made free from the inner stresses of the filaments. Such a method and apparatus which are formed in a successive system are not found in any of the prior arts.

Accordingly, the manmade filament tow suitable for subjecting to the draft-cutting-type tow spinning can be first obtained at a favorable condition with a considerable reduction in the treating cost.

The following examples are illustrative of the present invention, but are not to be construed as limiting the present inventron.

EXAMPLE 1 An acrylic dull filament tow of 480,000 denier thickness (the individual fibers were of 5 denier fineness) was processed through the apparatus shown in FIG. 1 in the following manner.

One hundred and ten kilograms of tow of dull Vonnel 17 (trade name of acrylic filament made by Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd., Japan) having a preliminarily crimped configuration (from ID to 12 crimps per 25 mm. length) was supplied from the tow container box 1 to the dyeing solution impregnating device 4 containing the dyeing solution of the following composition and was squeezed, after the impregnation of the dyeing solution of a pickup of 70 percent with respect to the weight of the filament tow. The dyeing solution was maintained at the normal temperatures.

Diacryl Supra Red 25L I 40 g./l. Methanol 80 g./l. Ammonium acetate 10 g./l. Urea 600 g./l. Sodium chlorate l g./l.

Note: I Trade name ofa cationic dye made by Mitsubishi Kasei Co. Ltd., Japan After the dye solution impregnation, the acrylic filament tow was next introduced into the treating box 8 of the type shown in FIGS. 2A to 2C. In the construction of the inner cylinder 9, the lateral size of the sidewalls 9a and 9b was 200 mm., respectively, the lateral size of the sidewalls 9e and 9f was lOO mm., the height of the inner cylinder 9 was 2,000 mm., and the treating box 8 was provided with four peripheral spaces.

The inside diameter of the outer cylinder was 308 mm. The tow was accumulated inside the inner cylinder in a folded disposition with a folding stroke of 90 mm. at a processing speed of 20 MPM and the tow remained within the inner cylinder 9 for minutes. Therefore, the total length of the tow accumulated within the inner cylinder 9 was 100 meters. Superheated steam of 160 C. temperature was used for the heating of the tow. After heating, the tow was subsequently introduced into the cooling means 13, which was provided with the construction as shown in FIG. 4A. The advancing path of the tow through the cooling means 13 was defined by the guide path 13b of a U-shaped arrangement as shown in FIG. 4A and the transverse cross-sectional pattern thereof was similar to that of the inner cylinder 9 of the treating box 8. The cooling water chamber 13a was provided with a circulation of the cooling water of 18 C. temperature at a flow rate of l./min. It took 25 minutes for the tow to pass through the entire length of the guide path 13b and at the outlet terminal of the guide path 13b, the temperature of the processed tow was lowered uniformly to the above-described temperature of the cooling water. Next, thusly cooled tow was supplied into the tow washing arrangement with application of 0.04 g./d. tension, which arrangement was provided with the mechanical construction as shown in FIGS. 5A, 5B and 5C. The diameter of the suction drum 15 was 500 mm. and the circulation flow rate by the suction pump was 20 L/min. The width of the porous peripheral recess was 250 mm. The washing arrangement was provided with three sets of washing baths as shown in FIG. 5A connected to each other with the level difference ranging between 3 and 5 cm. The first washing bath contained an aqueous solution of l cc./l. of Scourol No. 9 (trade name of a nonionic detergent made by Kao Soap Co. Ltd., Japan) while the second and third washing baths contained hot water of C. temperature. The tow was passed through this washing arrangement for about 20 seconds and after this washing operation, the tow was fed to the oiling means 241 containing the oiling liquid of the following composition.

lic Concentration Initial Additional Oiling agent SAK-M (Trade name of a cationic oiling agent made by Sanyo Kasei Co.

Ltd., Japan) 35 14o g./l. Elenon No. 20 (Trade name ofa nonionic oiling agent made by Daiichi Kogyo Seiyaku Co. Ltd.. Japan) 20 gJl. 80 g./l.

to C. In the drying operation, the oiled tow was I opened to a width which was 20 percent greater than original width of the filament tow and the cylinders were driven at a peripheral velocity of 20.2 m./minute which was 1.0 percent greater than the peripheral velocity of the nip rollers 25a and 25b of 20.0 m./min. in order to process the filament tow at a tension of 0.02 g./d. The dried tow was supplied into the preheating steamer 28 and preheated by steam of a temperature of 100 C. for 3 seconds to soften the tow. Then, the preheated filament tow was supplied to the crimper 29 as indicated in FIG. 6. In this supply operation, the filament tow was tensed in a manner in which the feeding rollers 41a and 41b had a peripheral velocity of 20.806 m./min. which was 3.0 percent greater than that of the cylinders 27.

This was effective for creating uniform thickness of the supplied filament tow and increasing the orientation index of the filaments in the tow and thus resulted in uniform crimping of the filament tow. Further, the width of the filament tow was adjusted to 76 mm. which was equal to the width of the crimper 29 by successively being passed through a plurality of guide rollers disposed between the dryer 26 and the crimper 29. The tow thus was crimped in the crimper 29 at a crimp number of 7 to 10 crimps/25 mm. By the way, the residual crimp number of the tow before crimping by the crimper 29 was nothing. The crimped filaments had the residual inner stresses produced during the foregoing steps. In order to eliminate the residual internal stresses existing in the filaments, steam having a pressure of 0.6 kg./cm. G was fed into the stuffing box 42 of the crimper 29 through the numerous apertures 43, whereby the crimped filaments were relaxed. The crimped and relaxed tow was cooled to room temperature and then discharged into the tow container box 32 at a folding stroke of 17 cm. by the delivery device 31 through the guide rollers 30a and 30b. The resultant dyed tow had a uniform crimping property and excellent dimensional stability. The color fastness of the resultant dyed tow is illustrated in table 1 TABLE 1.COLOR FASTNESS E valuation (class).. 6 5 6 5 5 Note: Evaluations ofthe color fustness were carried out in accordance with the following manner.

Light .llS L-1044, MC-Z method Laundering JIS [5-1045 Steam-pleating AATCC 31-1962T Perspiration L-0848 Crocking L-0849 The color fastnesses of the resultant dyed tow, as shown in table 1, was similar to those of the filament tow dyed by the conventional method. Further, the resultant dyed tow had a residual shrinkage of 0.15 percent at a texting condition wherein the filament tow was heated with steam having a temperature of 115 C. for minutes. A comparison filament tow, which was dyed by the conventional discontinuous dyeing process, had a residual shrinkage of 0.2 percent which was similar to that of the resultant filament tow of the present example. Also, the resultant tow had an oiling agent content of 0.37 percent based on the weight of the filament tow and a moisture content of 1.03 percent based on the weight of the filament tow.

The resultant tow was draft-cut by the turbo-stapler under conditions indicated in tables 2 to 4 and the resultant silver was subjected to determination of shrinkage. The results are illustrated in tables 2 to 4. The determination of the shrinkage was carried out in the following manner.

A test silver was treated by steam at 1 15 C. for 10 minutes and the shrinkage owing to this treatment was determined. For comparison, a comparison filament tow dyed through the conventional discontinues dyeing process (comparison example 1 and a comparison filament tow which was processed by the process of the present invention, except that the steam-heatrelaxing in the stuffing box of the crimper was not applied (comparison example 2), were subjected to the same draftcutting by the turbo-stapler and the resultant comparison silvers were subjected to the determination of shrinkage in the same manner as stated above. However, these comparison silvers were prepared from noncrimped filament tows.

The filaments tows of the present example and the comparison examples were subjected to stretching by the turbostapler under the following conditions.

1. Machine: Turbo-stapler made by Osaka Kiko Co.,

Ltd., Japan.

2. Delivery velocity of filament tow: 104.5 m./minute 3. Draft between intermediate roller and front roller:

Breaker bar draft: 1.37 Engaging depth of breaker bars: 6 mm. Room temperature: C. Room humidity: 60 percent RH Heat-stretch ratio, heater temperature and heat gauge: as indicated in tables 2 to 4.

TABLE 2.INFLUENCE OF HEATER TEMPERATURE Shrinkage of silver (percent) l Heat-stretch ratio: 1.31; heater gauge: 0.5mm.

TABLE 3.---TNFLU1NCE OF HEATER GAUGE Shrinkage of sliver (percent) Comparison Comparison Operation condition 1 Example 1 Example 1 Example 2 Heater gauge (mm.):

I-1Ieat-stretch ratio: 1.31: heater temperature: 250 F. 7*

TABLE 4.INFLUENCE OF HEAT-STRETCH RATIO Shrinkage of sliver (percent) Comparison Comparison Operation condition 1 Example 1 Example 1 Example 2 Heat-stretch ratio:

Heat temperature: 250 F.; heater gauge: 0.5 mm.

As is clear in tables 2to 4, the dyed silver obtained from the filament tow of the present example had features similar to that of the filament tow of comparison example 1 even at various stretching conditions. Further, the filament tow of the, present example had an excellent processability for the turbostapler similar to the filament tow of comparison example 1 which was dyed by the conventional discontinuous dyeing process.

However, the dyed tow of comparison example 2 which was not subjected to the relieving of the internal stresses, had poorer features than those of the present example and comparison example 1. This was caused by the residual internal stresses unevenly existing in the filaments.

Furthermore, high-bulk fibers were prepared from the dyed tow of the present example by draft-cutting it using the turbostapler at a condition indicated below.

1. Heat stretch ratio: 1.31

2. Heater temperature: 275 F.

3. Heater gauge: 0.5 mm.

Other operative conditions were the same as indicated hereinbefore.

Forty percent by weight of the resultant high-bulk acrylic fibers were blended with 60 percent by weight of regular acrylic fibers and spun into a 36 meter count yarn through the usual worsted spinning process. The blend yarns were formed to a two folded yarn. Then, the two folded yarn was formed into a bulky sweater through the conventional knitting and finishing process.

The resultant bulky sweater had an excellent bulkiness and elegant hand feeling similar to those of the sweater prepared from the filament tow of comparison example 1.

EXAMPLE 2 The present example relates to the treatment for a bright acrylic conjugate filament tow of which the trade name is Vonnel 57 made by Mitsubichi Rayon Co., Ltd. of 480,000

.. e t is ratio: 11 111 sezfixera.

denier thickness. The individual filament had a fineness of 3 denier. The treatment was carried out according to the process and apparatus indicated in example 1 except the following items differed from those used in example i.

I. Composition of dyeing liquid Diacryl Supra Blue ZRL '2 30 g./l. Methanol 50 g./l. Ammonium acetate l g.ll. U rea 600 g./l. Sodium chlorate l0 g./l.

crimper 29: 22.048 m./min. (the feed rollers 41a and 41b were driven at a peripheral velocity 6 percent greater than that of cylinder 27) Temperature of steam fed into stuffing box 42: 120 C. (1.0 kg./cm. G pressure) Crimp number of the crimped filaments: 6-7

crimps/25 mm. 10. Shrinkage of dyed tow: 0.1 percent. The filament tow used in the present example consisted of TABLE 6.-INFLUENCE OF HEATER GAUGE Shrinkage (percent) Comparison Comparison Operative condition Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 1 Heat-stretch ratio: 1.31; heater temperature: 260 F.

TABLE 7.INFLUENCE OF HEAT-STRETCH RATIO Shrinkage (percent) 0 Comparison Comparison Operative condition 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Heat-stretch ratio' i atet..tempetatet atil Rummage; 941E311; 7.

Peripheral velocity of feed rollers 41a and 41b of f.

, As is clear in tables 5 to 7, the sliver prepared from the filai ment tow of example 2 had a shrinkage similar to that from the ifilament tow of comparison example 3 which was discontinuously dyed. However, the sliver of comparison example 4 had i a large shrinkage due to residual internal stresses.

The resultant dyed to of the present example had the color fastnesses as indicated in table 8.

TABLE 8.COLOR FASTNESS Laundering Steam- Perspiration Cracking pleating,

Color Staincolor Color Stain- Item Light change ing change change ing Dry Wet Evaluation (class). 6-6 5 5 4-5 5 6 5 conjugate filaments which were spontaneously crimped before oiling. Due to this reason, when the filament tow was supplied to the dryer,'the filament tow was opened in order to make the thickness of the tow thinner and tensioned at a tension larger than that for the regular filament tow in order to make the filament tow tightly contact the peripheral surface of the dryer cylinders.

The resultant dyed tow of the present example was subjected to the turbo-stapler drafting in the same manner as indicated in example 1. For comparison, a filament tow dyed through the conventional discontinuous dyeing process (comparison example 3) and a filament tow which was not steamheated in the stufirng box (comparison example 4) were drafted in the same manner as stated above.

The obtained silvers of example 2, comparison examples 3 and 4 were subjected to determination of shrinkage in the.

same manner illustrated in example 1. The results are illustrated in tables 5 to 7.

TABLE 6.INFLUENCE 0F HEATER TEMPERATURE Shrinkage (percent) As is clear in table 8, the dyed filament tow of the present example had excellent color fastnesses.

EXAMPLE 3 The procedure of example i was repeated using a bright Vonnel 57 filament tow having total thickness of 480,000 denier and an individual fineness of 3 denier except that the following items differed from those of example 1.

Note: *3: Trade name of a cationic dye made by Mitsubishi Kasei Co., Ltd. Japan 4: Trade name of thickening agent made by Meypro Co.. Ltd.

Pickup of dyeing liquid: percent O.W.F. Treating box: construction as indicated in FIG. 210 comprises an inner cylinder having the following dimensions;

Width of sidewalls 9a and 9b Width of sidewalls 9eand 9] Height I00 mm.

and, peripheral heat medium passage being provided with four laterally divided chambers.

19 Feed velocity of filament tow into treating box: 20 m./min. 5. Remaining period in treating box: min. (remaining tow length: 100 mm.)

2. Heating medium: superheated steam at 190 C. 3. Feed velocity of filament tow into a treating box:

m./min.

4. Remaining period in treating box: 2 minutes (remain- 6. Heating medium: superheated steam of 160 C. tempera- 5 ing tow length was mm.)

ture 5. Washing liquid 7. Cooling means: construction as indicated in FIG. 4C A. Composition 8 Cooling medium: air of room temperature Sodium hydrosulfite 2 g./l. 9. Tension applied to filament tow supplied to washing Sodium carbonate 2g./l.

means: 0.05 g./d. 10 B. Temperature: 80 C. 10. Temperature of washed filament tow: 70 C. 5. Oiling Liquid l1. Tension applied to filament tow during dyeing: 0.03

g./d. (the dryer cylinders 27 were driven at a peripheral Concentration velocity 4 percent greater than that of the nip rollers a 1 5 S g 1'3" Addmm" and 25b) 12. Temperature of steam fed into stuffing box: 120 C. I I H v L0 g g pressure) :!r;e:J;7;:rade name of a nonionic olllng agent made by Mauumoto Yulhi Co., The resultant dyed tow was draft-cut by the turbo-stapler in p the same manner as indicated in example l. The resultant 20 sliver had a shrinkage of 28 ercent. The resultant d ed sliver and regular sliver of Vonnel 5 7 were blended at a blind ratio Penphera] of dryer cylmder 27: percent of 1:1 and spun into a two folded yarn (componental yarn has than that of P rollers 25a and 25b 8. Peripheral velocity of feed rollers 41a and 41b of a fineness of 20 meter counts) by the worsted spinning 29 3 0 m at than that of Cl: er manner. The spinning was carried out without difficulty. 25 cmjnper 7 perce y The two folded yarns were formed into a sweater having a cylmderz b 4} 120 C high bulkiness by knitting and steaming at a temperature of Temperature of steam fed mm Sm mg 0X 100 c. for 10 minutes. kg'lcm-zG Pressure) 10. Residual crimp number of washed filaments: 3-5 EXAMPLE 4 3o m ll. Crimp number of crimped filaments: 8-9 crimps/25 The procedure of example 1 was repeated except that the mm treating box used had the construction indicated in FIGS. 2E 2 s i k fd d 15 percent to 2G and was provided with the detecting means utilizing visi- 13 Oili agent content f i d (127 percent ble light as indicated in FIG. 8, whereby the top level of the 14, M i t t f i d tow; 0,87 ercent tow accumulation in the treating box was controlled between Th resultant d d w had color fastnesses as indicated in 100 to 300 mm. height variation. bl 9 TABLE 9.COLOR FASTNESS Laundering Steam- Perspiratlon Crocklng pleating,

Color Stalncolor Color Stain- Item Light change ing change change lng Dry Wet Evaluation (class) 6 5 5 5-4 5 5 5 5 The resultant dyed tow had a shrinkage of 0. 15 percent and The resultant dyed tow could be draftcut through the tow could be processed through the turbo-stapler at a favorable spinning of perlock system which is usually utilized for condition. polyester filament tow at a favorablecondition similar to that EXAMPLE 5 of the filament tow dyed by the conventional discontinuous dyeing manner, and a polyester spun and dyed yarn usable for The procedure of example 4 was repeated except that the various uses was obtain d cooling means used had the construction indicated in FIG. 4D What e laim i and atmospheric air was utilized as the cooling medium. 1. A process of continuously treating a manmade filament The resultant dyed tow had a shrinkage of 0.2 perc n and tow under a normal pressure condition comprising, in comcould be processed through the turbo stapler Without difficulbination, the following continuous and successive steps of; (a) ty. impregnating said manmade filament tow with a treating EXAMPLE 6 liquid, (b) charging said impregnated filament tow into an open treating means in a manner in which said filament tow is The procedure of example 1 was repeate a stfmlduu accumulated in a square column form, (c) downwardly polyethylene etephthalate tow havmg total th'FkneSs passing said tow accumulation through said treating means for of 600,000 denier and an ind vidual fineness of 2 denier cxa predetermined i i d while heating said tow accumulacept that the following items differed from those ofexample l. on with a heating medium to a given temperature in a manner in which said heating medium flows into said tow aciv Composition of Dyeing Liquid cumulation through at least one side of said tow accumulation Rfwilm FBL formed in said square column form and flows through said tow 32" '6 accumulation, whereby a desired treatment for said filament Maypmgum p 10 tow is completed within said predetermined time period, (d) Sodium Chlorate z-l cooling said heated tow accumulation in a manner in which Nomi *51Tfade name Ofa disperse y made y y said heated tow accumulation passes through a U-shaped many cooling chamber and a cooling medium flows through said tow 6: Trude name of an anionic dispersing agent mud: by Meixei Kuguku C0.. Ltd., accumulation, (e) washing said cooled filament [OW with a P washing liquid while maintaining s a me at a tension of at least 0.03 g./d. in a manner in which said filament tow is carried on a periphery of a rotational suction drum having numerous apertures on said periphery and said washing liquid flows through said carried filament tow at substantially a right angle with respect to said periphery, (f) drying said washed filament tow under tension and (g) crimping said dried filament tow while steam heating said crimped filament tow at a temperature sufficient to relieve internal stresses existing in said filaments.

2. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said impregnating is vigoureux printing.

3. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the height of said tow accumulation in said treating means is maintained between two preselected levels.

4. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said heating medium is steam.

5. A process as set forth in claim 4, wherein said steam is superheated.

6. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said heating medium flows into said tow accumulation through one side thereof, flows laterally across said tow accumulation and flows out through an opposite side of said tow accumulation.

7. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said heating medium flows into said tow accumulation through at least two sides facing each other thereof and flows lengthwisely through said tow accumulation.

8. A process as set forth in claim 6, wherein the flow direction of said heating medium alternates for each predetermined length of said tow accumulation.

9. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cooling medium is water.

10. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cooling medium is air.

11. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cooling medium flows through said tow accumulation in a substantially opposite direction with respect to a passing direction of said tow accumulation.

12. A process as set forth in claim 10, wherein said cooling air flows through said tow accumulation in a substantially similar direction to a passing direction of said tow accumulation.

13. A process as set forth in claim 10, wherein said cooling air flows laterally across said tow accumulation.

14. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drying is carried out while maintaining the washed filament tow under a tension of 0.01 to 0.04 g./d.

15. An apparatus for continuously treating a manmade filament tow under a normal pressure condition comprising, in combination, the following means successively arranged along the path of travel of the filament tow; (a) means for impregnating said manmade filament tow with a treating liquid, (b) a treating box for treating said filament tow which comprises l a substantially perpendicular inner cylinder for containing said filament tow having a square lateral cross-sectional profile and being provided with an open upper end and at least two sidewalls having means therein defining numerous apertures and facing each other, and (2) a substantially perpendicular outer cylinder encompassing said inner cylinder and forming a peripheral heating mediurn passagebetween said inner cylinder and said outer cylinder, (c) means for cooling said filament tow which comprises a cooling medium chamber having a supply inlet of a cooling medium and a substantially U-shaped guide path for passing said filament tow contained in said cooling medium chamber and having means therein defining numerous aperture formed near said supply inlet, (d) means for tensioning said filament tow disposed downstream of said cooling means, (e) means for washing said filament tow comprising at least one washing unit which comprises a washing bath for containing a washing liquid, a rotatable suction drum for carrying said filament tow contained in said washing bath and having a periphery with means therein defining numerous apertures, and a suction pump for circulating said washing liquid through said washing bath, said apertures and an inner space of said suction drum, (f) a dryer for drying said filament tow and including means for maintaining the filament tow under tension, and (g) a crimper being provided with a stuffing box having at least one steam ejecting opening connected to a steam supply source.

16. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said impregnating means comprises a vigoureux printing means.

17. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said peripheral heating medium passage is lengthwisely divided into two passages one of which connects a heating medium source to one sidewall of said inner cylinder having said apertures, and another one of which connects an opposite sidewall of said inner cylinder having said apertures to outside of said treating box.

18. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said peripheral heating medium passage is laterally divided into two or more passages each being connected to a heating medium source.

19. An apparatus as set forth in claim 17, wherein said lengthwisely divided heating medium passages are further laterally divided into two or more spaces.

20. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said inner cylinder has said apertures only at a lower portion thereof.

21. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said cooling medium supply inlet is disposed in a vicinity of a delivery terminal of said guide path and a cooling medium discharge outlet is disposed in a vicinity of a supply terminal of said guide path.

22. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said apertures of said guide path are formed only at a bottom wall of said guide path.

23. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said apertures of said guide path are formed at a bottom wall and a roof wall of said guide path.

24. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said cooling medium chamber is a cooling air chamber and a cooling air supply inlet is disposed in the vicinity of a supply terminal of said guide path.

25. An apparatus as set forth in claim 24, wherein a cooling. air discharge outlet is further disposed at a top portion of said;

F a ai hamber- A.

26. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said dryer is a cylinder dryer 27. An as aatusls ski forth $515M is, wiiieih said dfyer is a roller dryer. 

2. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said impregnating is vigoureux printing.
 3. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein the height of said tow accumulation in said treating means is maintained between two preselected levels.
 4. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said heating medium is steam.
 5. A process as set forth in claim 4, wherein said steam is superheated.
 6. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said heating medium flows into said tow accumulation through one side thereof, flows laterally across said tow accumulation and flows out through an opposite side of said tow accumulation.
 7. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said heating medium flows into said tow accumulation through at least two sides facing each other thereof and flows lengthwisely through said tow accumulation.
 8. A process as set forth in claim 6, wherein the flow direction of said heating medium alternates for each predetermined length of said tow accumulation.
 9. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cooling medium is water.
 10. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cooling medium is air.
 11. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said cooling medium flows through said tow accumulation in a substantially opposite direction with respect to a passing direction of said tow accumulation.
 12. A process as set forth in claim 10, wherein said cooling air flows through said tow accumulation in a substantially similar direction to a passing direction of said tow accumulation.
 13. A process as set forth in claim 10, wherein said cooling air flows laterally across said tow accumulation.
 14. A process as set forth in claim 1, wherein said drying is carried out while maintaining the washed filament tow under a tension of 0.01 to 0.04 g./d.
 15. An apparatus for continuously treating A manmade filament tow under a normal pressure condition comprising, in combination, the following means successively arranged along the path of travel of the filament tow; (a) means for impregnating said manmade filament tow with a treating liquid, (b) a treating box for treating said filament tow which comprises (1) a substantially perpendicular inner cylinder for containing said filament tow having a square lateral cross-sectional profile and being provided with an open upper end and at least two sidewalls having means therein defining numerous apertures and facing each other, and (2) a substantially perpendicular outer cylinder encompassing said inner cylinder and forming a peripheral heating medium passage between said inner cylinder and said outer cylinder, (c) means for cooling said filament tow which comprises a cooling medium chamber having a supply inlet of a cooling medium and a substantially U-shaped guide path for passing said filament tow contained in said cooling medium chamber and having means therein defining numerous aperture formed near said supply inlet, (d) means for tensioning said filament tow disposed downstream of said cooling means, (e) means for washing said filament tow comprising at least one washing unit which comprises a washing bath for containing a washing liquid, a rotatable suction drum for carrying said filament tow contained in said washing bath and having a periphery with means therein defining numerous apertures, and a suction pump for circulating said washing liquid through said washing bath, said apertures and an inner space of said suction drum, (f) a dryer for drying said filament tow and including means for maintaining the filament tow under tension, and (g) a crimper being provided with a stuffing box having at least one steam ejecting opening connected to a steam supply source.
 16. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said impregnating means comprises a vigoureux printing means.
 17. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said peripheral heating medium passage is lengthwisely divided into two passages one of which connects a heating medium source to one sidewall of said inner cylinder having said apertures, and another one of which connects an opposite sidewall of said inner cylinder having said apertures to outside of said treating box.
 18. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said peripheral heating medium passage is laterally divided into two or more passages each being connected to a heating medium source.
 19. An apparatus as set forth in claim 17, wherein said lengthwisely divided heating medium passages are further laterally divided into two or more spaces.
 20. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said inner cylinder has said apertures only at a lower portion thereof.
 21. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said cooling medium supply inlet is disposed in a vicinity of a delivery terminal of said guide path and a cooling medium discharge outlet is disposed in a vicinity of a supply terminal of said guide path.
 22. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said apertures of said guide path are formed only at a bottom wall of said guide path.
 23. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said apertures of said guide path are formed at a bottom wall and a roof wall of said guide path.
 24. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said cooling medium chamber is a cooling air chamber and a cooling air supply inlet is disposed in the vicinity of a supply terminal of said guide path.
 25. An apparatus as set forth in claim 24, wherein a cooling air discharge outlet is further disposed at a top portion of said cooling air chamber.
 26. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said dryer is a cylinder dryer.
 27. An apparatus as set forth in claim 15, wherein said dryer is a roller dryer. 